Malaysia finds 110 containers of abandoned illegal toxic waste from Romania
- The Southeast Asian country has become the world’s main destination for plastic waste after China banned imports of scrap
- Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the discovery in Johor was the biggest of its kind in Malaysian history
It has been negotiating with origin countries to take back hundreds of containers of plastic that entered the country illegally.
Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said 1,864 tonnes of electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) – a by-product of steel production that contains heavy metals like zinc, cadmium and lead – were found abandoned at the Tanjung Pelepas port in the southern state of Johor.
“The discovery of the EAFD, on transit in Malaysia and bound for Indonesia, is the biggest finding of its kind in Malaysian history,” Tuan Ibrahim was quoted as saying.
He said the EAFD, classified as a toxic waste under the Basel Convention, had been listed as concentrated zinc in declaration forms.
“The Department of Environment, as the Basel Convention authority (for Malaysia), has not granted approval for or received notifications from the waste exporter to transit in Malaysia,” he said.